* The decision was made following a FIFA delegation visit to Jeddah last week to assess ongoing preparations for the tournament.
* Mexico got their CONCACAF Gold Cup campaign off to the perfect start on Sunday with a 4-0 win over Honduras as they look to move past a poor Nations League performance that saw coach Diego Cocca sacked after just four months in charge.
* ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi has been re-elected for a second term as the head of the organisation from 2024 through 2026, the governing body of men's tennis announced on Monday.
* It took World No.1 Iga Swiatek a little time on Monday to acclimate to the grass under her feet in the first round of the Bad Homburg Open. But only a set. Swiatek won her first grass-court match of the season against 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist Tatjana Maria 5-7, 6-2, 6-0 in Bad Homburg, Germany. Swiatek now has a 36-6 record this season.
* Wimbledon champion and world number three Elena Rybakina pulled out of a warm-up event in Eastbourne on Monday, saying she was still recovering from a virus that forced her to withdraw from the French Open.
* Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) will feature in the wider sports programme in the 2023 African Games in Ghana, the organisers said on Monday. The event, which was set to take place in August but has been postponed to March 2024 due to economic and infrastructure issues, will now see MMA joining e-sports, speedball, sambo and teqball as part of the demonstration sports.
* Colombian Egan Bernal will make his return on the Tour de France after a two-year hiatus, his Ineos Grenadiers team said on Monday. The 2019 champion abandoned the race in 2020, skipped it in 2021 as he won the Giro d'Italia and missed out on the 2022 edition after he sustained serious injuries in a high-speed crash early last year.
* British racing team Hitech have applied to enter a team in Formula One from 2026 with investment from Kazakh billionaire businessman Vladimir Kim. Hitech Global Holdings, which owns and operates Hitech Grand Prix, said in a statement on Monday it had agreed the sale of a 25 per cent interest to Kim.
* Barcelona have signed Ilkay Gundogan on a free transfer after his departure from treble winners Manchester City with the German midfielder signing a two-year contract, the LaLiga club said on Monday (Jun 26). The 32-year-old has a contract until June 2025 with an option for a further year, while the Spanish champions also said they had included a buyout clause of 400 million euros (US$435.72 million).
